Surprise! A newly-released patch has made Resident Evil 5 playable on Steam Deck.
Prior to the patch, Resident Evil 5 wasn’t playable on the Deck without tinkering due to the dreaded Games for Windows Live requirement; Microsoft’s attempt to charge PC users to access Xbox Live functions.
The full patch notes are as follows:
- Removed Games for Windows Live support
- Will support local split-screen co-op
- Some other minor bug fixes
Games for Windows Live was retired by Microsoft after negative feedback saw PC players unhappy with the idea of being charged for online play and having to sign into an online service to access offline features. That and it was very, very dumb.
Even now, as shown by Resident Evil 5 previously not being able to be played on Steam Deck, the service continues to cause issues years later.
One of the highest profile removals of the service came when Rockstar decided to pull GTA 4 from sale.
“Grand Theft Auto 4 was originally created for the Games For Windows Live platform,” Rockstar told USGamer in a statement.
“With Microsoft no longer supporting Games For Windows Live, it is no longer possible to generate the additional keys needed to continue selling the current version of the game. We are looking at other options for distributing GTA4 for PC and will share more information as soon as we can.”
The solution? Rockstar would relaunch GTA 4 on Steam as GTA4: Complete Edition, which bundles in downloadable content while removing the Games for Windows Live service.
Of course, there are a host of Microsoft-published games that still suffer from the remnants, including Fable 3, which still isn’t purchasable on Steam Deck. Here’s hoping Microsoft takes note and starts bringing its games back to PC with the Games for Windows Live requirement removed.
It’s wishful thinking, probably, but one can hope.
